The In-Between
by JessTerr
Summary: Thoughts unspoken between the scenes of Season Three. Do you often watch shows and fill in what's not said? If so, the writers are doing their job well! These are my thoughts. This will most likely be a lesbian centric fic. It may be a multi-chapter or a one shot. It depends on where the writers go with this season. [Clarke, Niylah]
1. Touch

**A/N: As I watched season 2 on Netflix, I was aware of a lesbian subplot. As I watched the sexual tension build between Clarke and Lexa, I found myself filling what I thought their thoughts would be in my own mind. I guess this fic will be about S3 what I didn't write about S2. I obviously don't know what will happen episode to episode, so we will just have to wait to see where this story goes. Yes I know most of this is the retelling of that scene, but I always have my own thoughts to throw in.**

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 _Setting: During Season 3, Episode 1_

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"The cat got the worst of it." Niylah began to gently wash the drying, caked maroon blood from the panther claw marks on Clarke's back as Clarke scoffed. The pain of the injury was just something else to distract her from the pain of her memory, her memorial to the dead. "No kill marks," Niylah murmured, referring to the tattoos that grounders proudly displayed after a battle justly won. To grounders, slaying their enemies was the ultimate honor. To Clarke, it was ultimate anguish. She was not one to inflict death on innocent.

"My back isn't big enough." Clarke still bore the horror of what she had done. She was not proud; Clarke felt dead inside. Niylah asked about the mountain which had claimed her mother. Clarke refused to talk about the mountain despite Niylah's insistence. It's odd how something so noble to one person can be so bitter to another.

Clarke's eyes closed as Niylah continued to wash her back. Over the last three months, Clarke had foregone one basic need. Not food, not water, not shelter. Touch. Humans need humans. It's often not realized how much one missed it until she has it once again. This realization hit Clarke as Niylah brushed the wet cloth across her back, touching her skin with her warm hand. Clarke relished in the touch.

Bare skin to skin contact can be the most erotic of caress, sometimes that's all that is needed to spark the flame leading to much, so much more. Clarke's inner response, inner desires drove her to action as she grasped Niylah's face, pulling it into hers, lips crashing, hands wandering. Excruciating need to touch and to be touched. Intimately. Clarke barely knew Niylah yet she felt like Niylah was the only person who existed in this moment in time. Each tongue wrapped around the other and the desire overcame the pair.

Collapsing, Niylah flipped Clarke over into the mountain of furs of which Clarke grabbed handfuls of as her eyes closed in ecstasy. Not only is the first real human touch she had felt in three months, it was what she needed to start erasing the pain caused by the betrayal at Mount Weather. Niylah's attraction to Clarke had been instant the first time Clarke had dragged a fresh kill into her post looking to barter for something to better suit her new nomadic ways. The meat would have spoiled and been wasted. So Clarke had wanted to make the best of her situation.

Although Clarke had initiated the kiss, Niylah felt the need to take over and reveal through action – the thoughts she'd been having of the red-haired Waheda. Despite Clarke's fervent need, Niylah took her time and worshiped Clarke's body to create new skin memories to replace the memories in Clarke's tormented mind. Leading Clarke to her bed, she lavished attention to every inch of Clarke's battered body, entrenching new memories into her mind.

Earlier two scouts had come into the trading post with a crudely drawn picture of Waheda. Niylah knew why they were there yet wasn't going to let them capture Clarke. Everyone knew of the bounty yet Niylah felt a deep need to protect this dirty outsider with her dyed red hair. She could only hope that her lies had been enough to lead the men away from the woman she wanted deeply to protect.

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Clarke bolted awake from the dream that had haunted her for the last three months, the moment her and Bellamy's hand had pulled the lever, killing their enemy along with hundreds of innocent people. Looking to her left, she realized she was in a fur covered bed next to Niylah. She realized that sometime during their escapades, Niylah had led her to the bed, undressing each of them as she went. Clarke closed her eyes, reliving the night of unbridled passion. Niylah seemed so knowledgeable yet so innocent all wrapped into one. Clarke quietly dressed so as to not wake the blonde whose touch was gentle. Clarke's need for contact had been satiated for now. Since she was being tracked, it was now her that needed to protect Niylah. She could not afford an emotional connection that would ultimately come back to haunt Niylah. Clarke wanted no more innocent human blood on her hands.

Once dressed, Clarke gathered her things along with the cured meat Niylah had packaged for her earlier. She slipped out of the trading post in which Niylah also lived. As soon as she had taken two steps out, one of the scouts lie in wait for her. Grabbing her, he placed his razor sharp blade against her throat. "Hello, Waheda." Oh how Clarke now wished she had stayed in bed next to Niylah in the true safety she had found in Niylah's arms.

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 **A/N: Some chapters may be short, while others longer. Thanks for reading, and I'd love to read your reviews.**


	2. Hate

_Setting: During Season 3, Episode 2_

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Indra knew she risked her life going to Arkadia, but she needed to warn them of the bounty on Clarke. "She's being hunted. By everyone. The Ice Nation Queen wants Clarke's power.

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Bound and gagged, Clarke was dragged by the bounty hunter across the stones and rocks of the dried river bed. They had been walking this way for many miles. The bounty hunter's longer stride made it difficult for Clark to keep up as she was pulled along with the rope attached to her trussed hands. Clarke kept herself going by reliving the events of the night before. She and Niylah had bared their bodies as well as their souls to each other as they made love. The primal connection had been powerful, even more than the one she had shared with Finn. It was the beautiful images of Niylah's body and the memories of her touch that gave Clarke the strength to continue to walk. Clarke knew that the further they walked from the trading post that she so foolishly left the night before, the less of a chance it would be that she would see Niylah again.

Suddenly, Clarke made her body go limp, falling to the rocky surface. Flipping her body over, the bounty hunter realized that Waheda has passed out. He took pity on her and went to the river to fill his canteen. Without warning, Clarke leapt on his back, choking him with the very rope that he led her with. As she cut off his air supply, his body went limp from lack of oxygen. Clarke removed the gag out of mouth and sighed with relief. The bounty hunter abruptly came back to life and wrestled Clarke to regain control. When she looked into his eyes and realized he was Ice Nation, she lost all will to fight. _I wish I had said goodbye to Niylah. She brought me back into the land of the living, and I never thanked her for that. Now I'm afraid I'm being taken to the land of the dead._

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The other bounty hunter struck Niylah and sent her lithe body flying across the dirt floor of the trading post. He continually beat the trader as he demanded to know, "Where is Waheda?" Niylah's cheek was split open and blood mixed with the grime on her face. Niylah did not know what hurt worse, the beating she was taking or the fact that she didn't know where Clarke was. When Niylah awoke to find herself in bed alone that morning, her heart was broken. She had been sleeping so soundly that she had not felt Clarke slip from her bed. _I have not slept that well since my mother's passing._ _How could I have become so attached so quickly?_

The man drew large knife and bore down on Niylah's wrist. "I'll ask you one more time; then you will lose a hand." Without Clarke, Niylah had lost her will to fight.

A gun shot rang out and the bounty hunter was thrown aside by the force of the bullet as Bellamy and Indra burst into the trading post, gun and sword drawn. Indra rolled the man's body over and announced, "Bounty hunter." Niylah's blood ran cold as she remembered what the he had said about the other Ice Nation scum doubling back last night. Tears welled in her eyes as she realized that the Ice Nation surely had Clarke.

"Clarke. She was here last night." It pained Niylah to remember the kisses they had shared. "She was here when I fell asleep but gone when I woke up." It was excruciating as her mind brought forth images of their naked bodies wrapped around each other, falling asleep among the furs piled high on Niylah's bed. She was careful to not let her emotions reach her face in fear that she would be shot by these strangers as well.

"Did she say where she was going?"

Niylah shook her head. "No but he did. Azgeda – Ice Nation."

The Skaikru search party left the trading post with assurances that they would find Clarke, Niylah collapsed back to the dirt floor on which she lay only moments before and wept. She wept for Clarke and the loss she felt in her heart. Once she pulled herself together, she looked around the trading post, making note of what needed to be repaired and straightened after her fight with the bounty hunter. Her eyes landed on the dead bounty hunter. She blamed him for Clarke's abandonment.

She dragged him out of her post by his feet, she left him about 100 yards from her building. _Let the wolves have a good dinner tonight._ She knew this would not bring Clarke back to her, but the actions made her feel as though she had somewhat vindicated her aloneness.

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Clarke was bound to a pole in the underground building. The bounty hunter was tending to the stab wound Clarke had given him when they had stumbled upon the now dead Ice Nation scouts.

"Why are you hiding from your own people?" Clarke was still being obstinate despite her failed escape attempt.

"Why did you run away from yours?"

His words make Clarke think. She had spent so much of her time running, running towards danger and away from failure and rejection. Laying her head against the pole, she let her mind drift back to the first time she laid eyes on Niylah. Lincoln had told her of the trading posts spread sporadically around the land. These people were neutral and not attached to any one clan. So when Clarke realized she had a need, she sought out one of the trading posts and watched it for several days.

Looking back, Clarke now realized that she had immediately been attracted to the young blonde she saw in the post. Clarke's pain from the recent betrayal had been too much to allow her to realize the truth at the time. Eventually Clarke entered the post to enquire about trading goods for fresh meat. Since the meat was plentiful in the area, Clarke had stayed put for a few weeks. _Was that really the reason I hung around? Or was it Niylah?_

Clarke's thoughts were interrupted when a figure darted into the building. Her spirits lifted when she realized it was Bellamy. As he slipped the gag from her mouth and went to cut her bound hands, she shouted a warning. "Bellamy, behind you."

The bounty hunter was quite the warrior and quickly overpowered Bellamy and placed the tip of his sword at Bellamy's neck. Before he could plunge the sharpened steel into Bellamy's skin, Clarke began to beg for his life. "Please, please – I'll do anything. Don't kill him." Clarke's feelings for Bellamy was one of brotherly love but she did not want innocent blood shed. _Maybe I am weak. Lexa has been right all along. But Bellamy does not deserve to die for me._ Clarke gave in to the fact that she was soon to be sacrificed to the Ice Nation queen.

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Clarke could see flashes of light and dark from beneath her hood as they ascended many stairs. Eventually Clarke was forced to her knees, facing bright sun which caused her to squint, even though the hood covered her head.

The voice of the bounty hunter rang out. "Waheda as promised." He yanked the hood from Clarke's head. Clarke could only see silhouettes in the bright light. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the shadow of a young woman, clean of war paint sitting on her throne yet she could not make out exact facial features.

The woman stood from her throne and strode towards the bound woman with blonde and red hair. As she stepped down, her face came into full view. _Lexa!_ Clarke dared not show her emotions as Heda came into view. "Hello Clarke." Clarke drew on memories of Niylah for strength.

Heda turned to the bounty hunter and spoke briefly. She then stated, "I'm told your mother's army marches on Polis."

"That has nothing to do with me. Honor our deal."

"I'll honor our deal with your queen honors our coalition. Lock Prince Roan of Azgeda away."

The guard roughly caught the prince's arm in his grasp to pull him away. "Yes Heda."

"What of Waheda?" One of the commander's counselors was concerned of the Queen of Death on her knees in the chambers.

"Leave us."

Clarke remained on her knees as she looked at Lexa with pure hatred in her eyes.

The commander spoke to two guards who helped Clarke to a standing positon in front of Lexa.

Lexa gently removed the gag from Clarke's mouth. "I'm sorry. It had to be this way. I had to ensure Waheda did not fall into the hands of the Ice Queen. War is brewing Clarke. I need you." Her voice was soft and words tender.

Clarke screwed her eyes shut and tried to picture Niylah's innocent face to calm her rage yet all she could see was red. Opening her eyes, Clarke mustered all of her strength and spat into Lexa's face. The guards immediately grabbed Clarke's still bound arms to drag her from the commander's chambers. _That is for your second betrayal._

Clarke's anger was formidable. "You wanted the Commander of Death? Well you got her." Waheda screamed as she was forcibly removed from the room. Lexa stood silent with a shocked look on her face. She paced to the back of her chambers, wiping the spit from her face. _What happened to the gentle woman of before? Does she not know that everything I did, I did for my people? She would have done the same._ Lexa was thinking with her heart, not her mind. Little did she know that she had already lost Clarke to the innocence of a young trading post woman who offered unconditional love.

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 **A/N: So I didn't have much to work with this episode. Having Lexa come back so soon was a surprise to me - but hey - gotta love Clarke's inability to forgive. She's one fierce woman.**


	3. Closed Story

As much as it pains me to write this, I just can't get into this season. The plot lines have really gone whack. There is zero content for me to work with, especially with there being no hints of romance. I was quite disappointed that the "new love" they billed for Clarke lasted - what - one episode? So for now, I'm going to mark this story complete. Who knows - if the adults the the hell out of the way on Earth and let the kids take over again, maybe the story will be worth picking up again.


End file.
